Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Avoid Annie

So did "state of affairs (rebecca)" and thank you to Rebecca for doing that guest post.I wanted time off but I also do like the show State of Affairs and I was hoping her post here might lead some people to the show who hadn't caught it yet.On TV (and music and books), be sure to check out the latest from Ava and C.I.:

I do like how Ava and C.I. hold people accountable -- including women who lavish praise on men and ignore women.Now for some really bad news -- the film Annie sucks.Stan notes that in his review "Annie, the film that makes you wish it was yesterday."But as strong and hard hitting as Stan's wonderfully written review is, it just doesn't capture it because words cannot capture the horror.I stared at the screen in shock as one bad moment was followed by yet another.It makes Can't Stop The Music look like a classic -- not a camp classic, but an actual classic.And as bad as that Village People musical was, it had life and it had charm.Annie's dead on arrival.I never would have believed, for example, that Jaime Foxx could be so dull and lifeless.It's a horror show in the same way Lucille Ball's Mame was. Avoid it at costs.My granddaughter said, as we left, "Well they can't all be good movies."

I wanted to laugh and cry.Laugh because of how she said it.Cry because she really wanted to see the movie.

Monday, December 22, 2014. Chaos and violence continue, Christians in
Iraq remain targeted, Senator Pat Roberts overlooks that fact as he
rushes to spin "success," the State Dept's Marie Harf announces -- a bit
after the fact -- that the Iraqi air defense is present and operating,
the EU cares about diplomacy even if the White House doesn't, and much
more.

Iraq came up briefly in today's US State Dept press briefing moderated by the madcap spokesperson Marie Harf:QUESTION: Thank you. I would like to ask a question about
ISIS. Deputy Prime Minister of Kurdistan Qubad Talabani said that the
United States has directly provided arms to the Kurdish Peshmerga, a
claim that the United States used to deny. They – you had said before
that – I mean not you personally, but the United States has said that
what it did was help transfer weapons from Baghdad to Kurdistan; no
direct weapons from American stockpiles had been provided to the
Peshmerga. Why does he say something different from --MS. HARF: Well, I think you’re skipping over the conversation
we’ve had over the last three or four months. The President and others
have said a few things: first, that we are providing assistance to both
the Iraqi Security Forces and to the Kurdish forces. We’ve been very
open about saying that. All of this is coordinated, certainly, with the
Iraqi central government, but we’ve been clear we will provide
assistance across the board.QUESTION: So weapons --MS. HARF: And DOD can outline more specifically what that assistance looks like.QUESTION: So weapons from American stockpiles have directly been --MS. HARF: I’m happy for the Department of Defense to speak
more to those specifics, but we’ve been clear we will provide assistance
to the Iraqi Security Forces, to the Kurdish forces, all in
coordination with each other, but certainly to both. The President has
spoken to that.QUESTION: One more question on Sinjar: If you aware that the Kurds carried out a major operation --MS. HARF: Yes.QUESTION: -- taking most parts of the town. I’d like to ask a
broader question here about President Obama’s strategy. How effective it
is in other parts of Iraq and Syria? I mean, we’ve seen some progress
from the Kurdistan side. Can we say that’s the only part of the
President Obama’s strategy that’s really working?MS. HARF: Well, a couple points. On Sinjar specifically,
Kurdish Peshmerga ground forces, supported by coalition and Iraqi army
air support, have opened a corridor to Mount Sinjar. As you said, this
is a significant development. Once this land route is confirmed safe for
civilian travel, communities on and around Sinjar will have the
opportunity to leave the area to move about if they want to do so. So
this wasn’t just a Peshmerga operation. It was in coordination with
coalition air support and Iraqi army air support.But it’s not one size fits all here. There are different challenges
we have across Iraq. Obviously, there are different challenges in Syria.
The strategy is tailored to each of those operational challenges on the
ground. Sinjar prevents – or presents, excuse me, one specific set of
challenges that one specific operational plan can deal with. But it’s
different across the board.QUESTION: Sorry, did you --MS. HARF: And we’ve had success other places as well. It’s not
just in the Kurdish areas. There has been success pushing ISIL back
throughout Iraq. But this is a long fight; we know that too.QUESTION: Sorry, did you say Iraqi air force also helped?MS. HARF: Correct. The Peshmerga forces on the ground around Sinjar were supported by coalition and Iraqi army air support.QUESTION: But does Iraq have any air defense system?MS. HARF: Well, clearly there was some helping here, so the answer would be yes.QUESTION: Can I follow up on that, please, Marie?MS. HARF: Yes.QUESTION: Is it now an idea that the Peshmerga will help join
any fight to advance on Mosul, which of course has been taken by the
ISIL for several months now?MS. HARF: I don’t have any operational plans like that to
preview. The Peshmerga have played a key role in pushing back ISIL in
parts of Iraq. I just don’t have any preview on that kind of issue.

Yes.

Let's go back for Marie's comic gold:

QUESTION: But does Iraq have any air defense system?MS. HARF: Well, clearly there was some helping here, so the answer would be yes.

Of Marie's high-larious proclamations, IBT notes, "The offensive on the mountain marks the first time the Iraqi air force
contributed to a high-profile offensive against the Sunni militant
group. Previously, only the U.S.-led coalition air forces, as well as some Iranian jets, had carried out strikes against ISIS."

If it happened.

So far the only source is Marie Harf.

Maybe she can next spin the popularity of the President? CNN explains:

President Barack Obama has struggled with sagging approval ratings
over the last year, but the commander-in-chief's numbers may have
dropped further among active-duty troops.Just 15% of active-duty servicemembers gave Obama a thumbs up in the annual Military Times survey
and more than half -- 55% -- say they disapprove of Obama's job as
commander-in-chief. The President has struggled to gain the approval of
troops throughout his time in office, but these numbers reflect a new
low for Obama, who finished his first year in office with a 35% approval
figure and only 4 in 10 disapproving, according to the Military Times
survey. The Military Times survey is not scientific and relies on a
voluntary response from the publication's readers. President Obama's
approval rating in the general population is much higher, though still
well below 50 percent. In the most recent CNN / ORC poll, he got the
approval of 44% of Americans.

The never-ending, illegal war has been very tough on religious minorities. Al Monitor reports
that there is only one Jewish family left in Baghdad. Baghdad's also
seen the number of Christians living there and in surrounding areas
reduced drastically. Loveday Morris (Washington Post) reports:

Just a year ago, an Advent service at St. George’s Chaldean Catholic
Church would have drawn 300 to 400 worshipers, says the Rev. Miyassir
al-Mokhlasee. But now only around 75 people are scattered across its
pews.

Ringed by concrete blast walls and police checkpoints, the
church has seen its congregation shrink for the past decade. The
instability and violence following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 have
driven many Christians out of the country. The nation’s Christian
population has plummeted from more than a million to what community
leaders estimate is less than 400,000 today.

In 2003, prior to the US-led invasion, Iraq had 1.5 million Christians. That number is now down to 400,000.

Attacks and threats have led huge numbers to leave the country or to
move to the northern area of the country. And now northern cities like
Mosul are no longer safe havens. Frederik Pleitgen (CNN) speaks
with Juergen Todenhoefer about what is taking place in Mosul today as
the Islamic State has taken over, "130,000 Christians have been evicted
from the city, the Shia have fled,
many people have been murdered and yet the city is functioning and
people actually like the stability that the Islamic State has brought
them."

Despite the above, Senator Pat Roberts has joined the White House's chorus of spin insisting things are improving in Iraq. As All Iraq News noted Saturday, he visited Iraq last weekend.

Was he in the same Iraq as Xinhua? Because of the same weekend period, Xinhua notes:A militant group of the Islamic State (IS) recaptured
the oil refinery town of Baiji which has been freed recently by the
Iraqi security forces, a source from the northern central province of
Salahudin said on Sunday.On late Saturday afternoon, dozens of IS militants carried out a
massive attacks on several points of the main road that bisected the
town of Baiji, some 200 km north of Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and seized
government and security compounds, the source told Xinhua on condition
of anonymity.The extremist militants also surrounded the oil refinery in north of
the town, where some of the withdrawing troops and their allied Shiite
and Sunni tribal militiamen resorted after the attacks, while other
forces and militiamen withdrew to the villages of al-Mazraa and al-Malha
in south, the source said.

Baiji has been recaptured but Roberts insists that he's "glad to see progress against" the Islamic State?

Mitch Prothero (McClatchy Newspapers) offers, "If the Islamic State eventually recaptures the refinery, which can
produce around 40 percent of Iraq’s refined oil products, it would be a
devastating blow both militarily and economically for the cash-strapped
central government, which had hoped to begin gasoline production this
month. In November, the Iraqi government pushed Islamic forces out of
Bayji and the refinery."

There will be no last stand for the besieged Iraqi Christians of Dora.

Father Timothaeus Issa talks of holding out for the sake of his dwindling
flock, but even he is packing his bags, just in case.

"The people with families have left," he said. "The old
people, some of them have stayed. All the young people have left. There are
very few children here.

"As for me, in terms of my religious responsibilities, my job is to be
father of my people here. I have to stay with these families.

"But personally, I'm thinking about it. I'm making my preparations."

Again, I have to wonder how Kansas responds to Pat Roberts' 'joy' and
'praise' -- Kansas is slightly above the rest of the United States
average when it comes to citizens self-identifying as Christians and
Jews.

In other 'success' to Roberts, Arabian Business reports, "A US Navy helicopter has crashed during a training mission in Kuwait,
injuring three crew members, the Bahrain-based Naval Forces Central
Command said on Monday."

'Success' has been all around lately in Iraq, hasn't it? With liars in
the press corps grading new prime minister Haider al-Abadi on a very
generous curve.

Some in the Sunni Arab political elite are beginning to see Mr Al Abadi as someone too weak to deliver on his promises.

“Just
talk,” one senior Sunni Arab politician described the new prime
minister. “He makes promises to us like Maliki did, but nothing
happens.” The lack of movement in a law to establish a Regional
National Guard – a force made up of local Sunni Arab tribal fighters to
combat ISIL in Sunni-dominated territories – is one of many political
issues that the prime minister must balance on sectarian fault lines.

Why might Sunnis look at Haider that way?

How about Falluja?

Iraqi Spring MC posts this video of some of the latest bombings of Falluja -- Iraqi military bombing Falluja's civilian population, destroying homes.

Iraq's prime minister said Saturday he has ordered the army to stop
shelling populated areas held by militants in order to spare the lives
of "innocent victims" as the armed forces struggle to retake cities and
towns seized by the Islamic State extremist group this summer."I
issued this order two days ago because we do not want to see more
innocent victims falling in the places and provinces controlled by
Daesh," Haider al-Abadi told a news conference in Baghdad, referring to
the Islamic State group by its Arabic acronym.

Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Saturday that
he had ordered his air force to halt strikes on civilian areas,
addressing a condition set by Sunni Muslim tribal figures to support his
campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters.Rights groups say Iraqi government attacks this year, many of them in
areas held by ISIS which controls one third of the country, have
indiscriminately targeted civilians.“I have ordered the Iraqi
Air Force to halt shelling of civilian areas even in those towns
controlled by ISIS,” Abadi said on his official Twitter account, using
the former name for militant group Islamic State.The United
Nations representative in Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, welcomed the
comments, which were repeated by Abadi at a conference about refugees on
Saturday in Baghdad.

Why are we acting like this never happened?

Nouri started the daily bombings targeting civilians -- a legally
recognized War Crime -- in January and they have continued every day
since.

Recently
his weakness was on display when Iraq’s judiciary delivered death
sentences to Sunni Arabs arrested on counterterrorism charges. The court
condemned a former member of parliament to death, a move which outraged
many Sunnis, who claim the counterterrorism law has been used to
marginalise them. “Iraq’s judiciary is still handing down
convictions in politicised trials, fraught with legal irregularities,”
said Joe Stork, deputy director of Middle East and North Africa at Human
Rights Watch.

There is no justice in Iraq. And with its failing legal system, the
last thing it needs to be doing is forcing prisoners to appear on
television. This is in fact abuse and it needs to stop.

But a press that can't even note Haider's inability to stop the War
Crimes (the bombing of Falluja's civilian neighborhoods) is the last to
give a damn about the rights of the accused -- in a functioning legal
system or in a dysfunctional one.

Lastly, Barack's 'answer' and 'plan' for Iraq is to drop bombs and then
drop more bombs. By contrast, the European Union seems to feel
diplomacy might be needed. The High Representative of the EU for
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini is visiting Iraq.